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Rumbled, Part Three.
Team Titan Think Tank Issue 19 "Rumbled." (Part Three) Front cover- the entire Think Tank stands with their backs to the reader, as the Tyrant of Creation bends his knees as it towers over them, grinning a grin of victory, as it claps its hands and a cloud of derbis flies at the team The issue opens with Games Master flying above, as he looks down, seeing the Tyrant simulation holding Sonne "This one not only provided a great advantage against me, but he seemed a great source of inspiration and trust. Lets see how your little army fares with just a blow to morale..." the 'Tyrant' intones. Reb stares at Tyrant from over the steering wheel, his eyes narrowing "...W...we can't fight this thing....everyone...p..please...g...get out w...while you c...can..." Rocks rise from the broken ground, zooming around the Tyrant in a vicious, multi-layered deadly halo. Games Master flies down at the hand, but rocks rise up in the way, as he weaves his way through them to avoid harm. He smashes through a rock, but it throws him off course, as he misses the hand CUT BB looks to Yu and Mr Psychic "Well, where are the others?" BB says. "WHERE is my son?" "They should be right behind us..." Yu turns to face the door, expectantly. BB puts his ear against the door. "They're still fighting..." He looks at Mr Psychic "There wasn't anything attacking when the two of us left", Psychic explains. "Nothing attacking them doesn't translate as TURNED OFF!" BB grabs Mr Psychic by the shirt and rams him into the door. "I told you, I was not conscious after Blitzkrieg blindsided us." "You're supposed to be SMART you IDIO..." BB stops ranting as Mr Psychic phases through the door. BB scratches his head. "Well there goes my quip about using his head to open the door... would have worked too. Maybe I should have started with that." He then looks to Yu and grins a wicked grin. Yu catches BB's eye. "We'll put a stop to this. Everyone gets out." "How about I give you a lift" says BB, with a devious smile. CUT The comic cuts to show Mr Psychic lying on his back in rubble as Yu appears out of mid-air and lands a few feet in front of Mr Psychic. "Well this is certainly a how do you do. I'm out of the loop for decades and supposed to instantly understand this technology?" Mr Psychic says. "Right now, I'm just as in the dark..." Mr Psychic stands up, "Looks rather familiar..." Mr Psychic gets a brief flashback, as we show the same environment and foe, but with lots of Team Titan and also several Tyrants present, including Cain, as Mr Psychic watches his old companion, Invisible Flying Guy, get frozen in mid-air by Cain, falling and shattering on the ground. Tyrant releases shockwaves, as Mister Psychic is hurled away and knocked unconscious, as the comic returns to the present. "Ah... I'd really rather not end with another knock to the head twice in one hour." Cain is stood before "Tyrant", utterly dwarfed by him. But is looking down, chuckling confidently, before staring the sim in the face with a grin. "Impressive. Certainly a clever form to choose... a pity, though. You do Myth's image justice, but I have to wonder... Do you really understand what it *means* to be the Tyrant of Creation? Do you know what it was that made him powerful, or will you squander the might you currently possess..." There is a frame of Cain's eyes from the front, and a similar one just beneath it showing Tyrant's bright eyes overlaid with black, as Cain continues "Atilla? Or do you prefer 'The Hun'?" "You know me. Of course. I have learned so much about you over these years... it is only right that you do the same. Respect." He leans in close to face Cain with eye one huge eye. "General, to General." "An honour." he says, with a small bow. "Now, the next question... do you expect me to fight you? Or have you perhaps delved deep enough into the base's data banks to find, why they expected I joined the Titans to begin with?" He ends in a wry smile. And turns around in a most menacing fashion to glare at the remaining members of the team - though once he feels his face is fully obscured from the Tyrant, he attempts to mouth something to them hurriedly, before turning back to him "Though I respect you, i would never ally with such a treacherous snake. You should be honoured that I intend to kill you face to face, nontheless. But first..." he looks to Sonne Cain gives a shrug that seems to read "Fair enough" to the accusation, though his expression deeply darkens as Atilla's attention is turned elsewhere. As Tyrant looks to Sonne in his hand, out of seemingly nowhere flies the Rob Supercar TM. smashing into Tyrant's fist, right at the knuckles. Reb, from behind the wheel, shouts. "LET HIM GO YOU MASSIVE JERK!" As the car hits the hand, it reflexively opens, spilling out Sonne onto the floor, as light shines softly over him. Only the chest plate on Sonne's armour remains, the force-field helm is off, the armour is not glowing, and the limbs on the armour have been fragmented to pieces. Sonne's eyes open Reb's window slightly winds down. "Get on, Mr Gunn!" Rob: "VROOM! VROOM!" "Didn't-... I just-... say that?" Gunn pushes himself onto his rump, wincing in pain. He glances down at the torso armour, the metal chipped and dented. Over the heart, the words '.. Gunn Industries...' are all that remains of a serial number. He narrows his gaze, glancing around, before hammering his fist into the chestplate. "Nanites reverse polarity. GRANDDAD, release the pulse!" The shattered segments of armour start to twist and straighten like dried leaves in reverse, springing onto his limbs as he pushes himself off the ground. 2 paired forks spring from the legs, and the retro jets boost themselves into place, before pushing him a few feet off the ground. "Round two, Shavit-brains!" Tonic grits her teeth, then turns tail and bolts for the wall where she pinpointed the door before ...suddenly stopping halfway through it. We cut to BB as Tonic half appears out of the door "Where -is- my s-" S...saving Sonne...c...come and see." Her hand comes through the wall and she holds it out to BB then calls out, shakily "GSPD e...employee ID 17642/T, Bethoni C Stevens, c...calling Red Buddha ....w...we need y...your help..." and steps back, her hand still sticking through the wall waiting for BB. BB takes the hand. "I've been calling. I don't think he's bloody listening. Lets do all the work ourselves, shall we?" He then looks at the blood on the hand. "Lovely." "D....don't worry...i...it's j...just mine..." "Hey, you don't irritate me -that- much. Trust me. Shamrock is -way- more irritating." He clenches the hand tightly as the comic cuts back into the Room as Tonic emerges from mid-air, with BB as he lands next to the fallen Mr Psychic. with Yu just in front. BB looks at Psychic. "Sorry about the shoving. Lets all try and leave at the same time now, shall we?" "Quite so." "S...should I t...try and f...find out w...what happened to R...red?" "He's probably busy meditating or something. He did that as a statue ALL the time." "A most excellent idea," Mr Psychic adjusts his monocle. Yu meanwhiles surveys the scene, taking in every detail "By Earl Grey's facial hair, the interference from the Tyrant is interfering with my detection rather fiercely", Mr Psychic declares. Yu glances sidelong towards Tonic. "Tonic, see if you can find what is creating the holograms. We need to take those out, fighting these endless enemies is- EVERYONE, GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Yu yells out at the top of his lungs, before promptly diving for some nearby rubble. "O...ok...I'll t...try..." Mr Psychic taps some button on the bottom of his cane, as it glows s he follows suit with Yu. "Get me a target and I can take it out, Toni!" Sonne yells. Yu continues to yell. "TAKE COVER!" "Cover? COVER?" booms the Tyrant, as the entire room turns back to the normal white cube, except, the Tyrant is still standing there, and the ceiling looks higher than usual, to accomodate the Tyrant's 'size.' "WHAT cover!??" He claps his hands and the halos of flying debris around him fly forward, as Mr Psychic raises up his cane high with two hands. The cane glows brightly with purple energy, as Mr Psychic flips the cane and fires the beam out. However, the beam is tiny against the barrage of rock. "Well that certainly needed to be more impressive." Psychic remarks. He pushes the beam forward, smashing away some of the barage as its heads for him. As a giant rock flies out of the dust cloud he splits it in half only for it to strike him in the face as he collapses again. As the dust clears, Tonic is down, and partially covered in rubble "Oh, Zarking Farkwads." Gunn mutters, his newly repaired armour pitted with more than a few dents, sparking widly, spewing energy randomly. Only Games Master has escaped with no harm as his dragon construct is mostly torn to shreds but GM himself survivies unscathes, and reforms the construct around him. Rob is tossed through the air, and though landing eventualy on his wheels, bounces a few times. Reb spits blood from his mouth. Battling Briton meanwhile is unconcious under a rock covering all but his head. "Has anyone else realised-..." Gunn peers at his armour unthankingly. "... that we don't need to fight this thing?" A faint combination of an agreement and a whimper comes from Tonic under the pile of rocks. "Thing? I am no 'thing.' I am Atilla the Hun" bellows the Tyrant. "The afterworld could not keep me, death could not take me... what do you think you can do. now I have a body that creates endless bodies?" BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM "Hun, huh? You don't look like a hu-" The entire building shakes. The lights in the Rumble Room turn off. Games Master crashes down to the floor and Top crashes over but everyone else keeps standing. "-NOW- What? "Blitzkrieg the Hun? Atilla the Robot? What more does this shorted Computer want to throw at me?" Sonne yells. "Dad?"Reb's eyes are tearing up in the dark Games Master's legs are sticking out of the rubble. "Where's te-off-button-" he murmurs. Yu staggers back from the debris striking him, and then again as the ground lurches. He barely keeps his balance, head darting this way and that. And then the lights in the Room come back on; grappling Tyrant is an equally large being, in fact, larger. It is an 150ft foot tall Red Buddha statue. "Woah! Anti-Virus!" Sonne says. Cain makes sure to regain his ground, and his composure, before folding his arms and saying "Finally." "I made a great mistake when we we fought four years ago, Atilla. I attempted to suppress your essence with my own", The Red Buddha speaks. The comic book flashes back to Planet Titan's first mission, to Planet Titan, defeated, Horde, possesed by the ghost of Atilla the Hun. Out of Red Buddha steps his spirit, pure white, with red eyes, against Atilla's, a white form, shaped with helm, sword and shield, with black eyes, and black ripples running through the form from the eyes. As the two fight, giant astral weapons vs giant lotus flowers and the like,as eventually, the Buddha's spirit consumes Atilla's. The comic flashes forward to the present. "I did not want to kill, to destroy. I believed myself pure. But in my most recent death, I remember now, who I was, what I was..." As he speaks, the Tyrant screams, as Red rams his hands into his back/ Red energy spreads up through the Tyrant. "And I was not pure. I was a man, not dissimilar to you. We were both men, warlords, killers, who with the gift of Promethean Fire, upon our deaths, were too relentless to allow death... we returned. But unlike you, I died a repentant man... I no longer wanted to kill. And so, I became the Red Buddha. But, it is clear, it would have been more merciful to end you. Instead, I became you, and you me, and you corrupted me." The comic flashes back to the Red Buddha's final destruction and his rewakening as the evil Red Terror, the statue of Lenin, before cycling through statues and eventually becoming Red Base "Now, it is time to make up for past mistakes." Red Buddha looks down at Cain. Upon the stone face is etched sadness, regret. "Now is time to grant us mercy. We have lived too long." The Red Buddha glows with bright red light, and so does the Tyrant "ARRRRRRRRRRGH!" Atilla screams again. You all recoil from the flash of light and then both are gone. And the lights are off again. "... So what's an Atilla?" Sonne asks. Yu lowers his arms, having thrown them up to ward his eyes. Yu glances around in the darkness, blinking futilely. "...Red Buddha?" Cain looks at where the two giants stood, face frozen in "I'm about to make a snappy comment" for a while, before his next breath croaks out of him. His shoulders sag, and he looks weak at the knees Rob's door opens and Reb runs out "DAD!" his eyes tearing up "... Does anyone have a torch? "I think we all need to make sure we have watches and torches when we get out of here." Sonne quips. Yu listens for a few moments, before calling out again. "Tonic? Mr. Psychic? Games Master? Cain? Battling Briton?" "... so that's a no on the torch Front then? Right." Tonic whimpers rather pitifully under the rocks "Everyone still alive in there?" comes Waterstone's voice from the other side of the Rumble Room door "Hard to say, we can't see anything. Hello Mrs. Waterstone, do you have a light?" "Yeah, just need to get these doors open... everyone stand back please." ".. Erm... hard to tell" Sonne replies. Reb's eyes light up giving a small bit of light "DDDAAADDD!" he yells Gunn tries to float backwards a bit, but one of his retros sputters and he falls over backwards ungracefully. "Zark-!" "Reb?" Waterstone's voice suddenly sounds very worried. "All right, we're coming in." RIPPPPPPPPPPPPPP Yu steps back from where he thinks Waterstone's voice is coming from. The metal doors are torn apart Waterstone's silhouette can be seen in the torch light, and next to her, a humongous form that throws the doors behind him. Gunn looks to the portal, an arm held up to shield his eyes. A form about eight feet tall, covered in hair, a large brutish shape, with lupine eyes. stands in the doorway. "Steve!" exclaims Waterstone. As BB, against the door as he was, has his head drop suddenly to the floor. "Sorry" rumbles the huge bipedal creature as it shrinks down to human form. "Is he OK?" Sonne asks. "I think so... i think so..." Waterstone sounds very worried nontheless "Herb. Get him to the infirmary, now" she says to the man now stood next to her. Reb runs over, his eyes blazing white. Herb nods, and turns back into his superwerewolf form. Yu turns on the spot, using the light from the now open door to take stock of the team's condition. Gunn nods, before moving over to check on Toni. "You alright, Doc?" Tonic awakens, as do all the other injured. Reb's white blazing eyes unable to see if he's crying as he runs to his Dad's side. "...C...can I g...go b...back to m...my lab now?" Tonic tries and fails to get up, shakily, but manages again on her second attempt...just about. "My goodness that's a headache. And with my abilities, that's hardly a joke", Psychic remarks. BB leaps out of Herb's arms and hugs his wife and child. "Cain?" Sonne asks. Mister Tops stands net to Cain, looking awkwardly quiet. Cain's suit has been nicked, scratched and otherwise de-classied by the event, but he's still standing, looking up, seeming a bit lost. "I'd... hesitate, to say I was alright, Gunn." he says, not all there. "We should...we should -all- head to the infirmary..." Yu speaks to the room in general, to whomever might listen. He looks equally shaken. Gunn paces over, casting a quick look at the family hug, before looking awkwardly at Cain. He gives him a pat on the 'back'. "Listen, buddy. You can't beat yourself up for that. That's more than a dropped line in the code, y'know?" "...I...I'm j...just going...to my..." she doesn't finsh the sentence, and walks out of the room. "I should like to take a look at this simulation technology if it's all fine with you. Perhaps I can analyse what caused it to malfunction as it did", Psychic offers. "It didn't malfunction. Not this time. It was spiritually possesed" Waterstone says. "He's gone. I know that. As much as I wish I could ask it, to... to hear it from someone, to yell at them and say it isn't so... I stand here, knowing the world is without the Red Buddha." Cain says, not looking at Gunn until he finishes, "I've been here just... just long enough to know what that really means." Yu looks over to Waterstone, listening. "Red Buddha carried a piece of Atilla the Hun within him for four years. It corrupted the following forms he had in various ways, though Red Base seemed free of it. Because Atilla had become conscious again and crawled into the Rumble Room... or all those files there, including ones of himself, awakened him. Not sure on all the details." "I'm sorry. I didn't realise you were, er... close." Sonne's brow knits with confusion, as he talks to Cain. "But, hey! It was a rapidly changing situation, and we came through it all in one piece." "Red always took a new body when he died... he said his current form couldn't go astral like the Buddha to fight him, because... well Atilla had found a way to make himself purely physical , yet indestructible. So I had to kill him. That meant totalling the bases power generator... I don't know what form he took.. what happened?" Waterstone asks "... I'll think on that, Gunn. I... suppose I'll just have to think on that", Cain says. Reb holds on to BB tightly as his soft sobs are just audible Gunn opens his mouth, but then closes it. He drops his arms to his side. "I'll-... yeah, infirmary." he heads off through the portal, feeling utterly baffled. "Thank you. I think." Cain cracks an absent minded grin, near on keeping it together, "Come on, Tops. I think we're entitled to a few scones after this little endeavour." "Good. I'm bloody famished." End of issue.